Always There
by iamtherealmaverick
Summary: Fluffy little one shot I wrote a while back about Harry and…well, figure it out for yourself. SLASH.


Summary: Fluffy little one shot I wrote a while back about Harry and…well, figure it out for yourself. SLASH.

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

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Always There

He ran down the hallways, trying, but failing once again, to be on time for Potions. Snape was going to give him detention. Again.

At the front of the room, to his surprise, when he entered the classroom, stood none other than Remus Lupin, who simply beckoned him towards his place and continued with the lesson. A tingle of unease flittered around the back of his mind. After he had finished explaining the concept of the potion and waved the class on to begin its preparation Lupin called him forward for a word.

"Harry, why were you late?" Harry simply looked down at his feet. He would not lie to this man, who he respected so much.

It seemed that fate was on his side, and that Remus had understood his silence somehow. For he simply sighed when he received no response.

"Very well, go work on your potion. However, be sure to come speak to me after class." Harry nodded his acquiescence and shuffled off to his bench again.

All throughout the period Hermione and Ron tried to get him to tell them where he had been, but he brushed them off gently and for the first time in history, focused on brewing his potion.

After the class was over and his classmates had all exited the room, he approached the desk at the front of the room where Remus sat calmly, waiting for him.

They said nothing for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Harry broke the silence.

"Please don't ask me again why I was late." Remus stared at him, puzzled at his odd request.

"Why not Harry?"

"Because I don't want to lie to you." Remus hesitated, and Harry rushed to speak again.

"Please Remus. No one knows. I can't tell anyone. It's…it's a secret. But it's not dangerous…" He rushed to say, but he saw that he was failing to convince his mentor and trailed off. "…Just…please Remus. Please. That's all I'm asking." He hung his head to examine the potion-stained floor beneath his sneakers, not able to meet Remus' gaze.

At last Remus broke the silence that hung over them.

"Very well. I will not ask you where you were or why you were late." He frowned unhappily down at his protégé's untidy mop of hair, so reminiscent of his late best friend's own. "Just don't do it again." And though he was loath to do it "Five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness." Because Remus Lupin was nothing if not fair. "You are dismissed."

Harry lifted his head and shot him a bright smile before running out of the room, on his way to diner. Remus, however, stood there reflectively. What was Harry up to? He trusted the boy, but he…well he had reason for his doubts…all based on the past though. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he just hoped that the boy would remain safe.

Sealing up the classroom, he went in search of his own diner.

Meanwhile

Harry rushed through the corridors again. It really was becoming a habit. Reaching the Gryffindor portrait, he uttered the password and hurried inside to his dormitory. He quickly deposited his book-bag at the foot of his bed and grabbed the Marauder's map and his invisibility cloak from his trunk, then quickly snuck out again.

It was dinnertime, so everyone in the castle was likely in the Great Hall, eating. Harry took no chances and, huddled under the cloak, hurried cautiously to the Hospital Wing.

There was only one reason that Professor Snape didn't teach. He was 'indisposed', meaning that he'd been tortured beyond repair at a Death Eater's meeting the night before. Sure enough, as he crept into the silent Hospital Wing, there was a bed that was hidden by curtains in the corner of the room. As no one else was in the vicinity, Harry crept over to the curtains, and slipped inside them.

He had to stifle a gasp at what he saw. Severus Snape lay there with his torso and a good part of his head covered in magical bandages. Unconscious. There was a beat up old chair at the side of his bed. Harry sank into it, still in shock.

He sat there, staring in disbelief at the prone figure before him for some time. Then, slowly, tentatively, he reached out and took the Professor's hand in his, careful not to cause the older man any pain.

Laying his head tenderly upon their joined hands, he mumbled

"Please don't let go Severus, please don't let go." As a tear escaped his eye to trail its wet path down his cheek, he felt the hand beneath his own move to brush it away. A hoarse voice rumbled from the chest beside his head.

"Never fear that I will leave you, my love, I will always be here for you."

Green eyes rose to meet black. A tremulous smile formed. He bent forward to place a chaste kiss to his lover's lips, and then, repositioning himself to maximize body contact, admonished his lover to rest.

Harry sat there, smoothing Severus' hair back from his face as he drifted off to sleep.

He would be there when he woke up.

He, just like Severus would for him, would always be there.

Still smiling, he too drifted off to sleep.

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**A/N:** AW! Look at the FLUFF flying around! Grab some and make yourself a pillow. AND REVIEW! ALWAYS REVIEW! 


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